You get up every morning from your alarm clock's warning
Take the 8:15 into the city
There's a whistle up above and people pushin', people shovin'
And the girls who try to look pretty
And if your train's on time, you can get to work by nine
And start your slaving job to get your pay
If you ever get annoyed, look at me I'm self-employed
I love to work at nothing all day

And I'll be taking care of business (every day)
Taking care of business (every way)
I've been taking care of business (it's all mine)
Taking care of business and working overtime, work out

If it were easy as fishin' you could be a musician
If you could make sounds loud or mellow
Get a second-hand guitar, chances are you'll go far
If you get in with the right bunch of fellows
People see you having fun just a-lying in the sun
Tell them that you like it this way
It's the work that we avoid, and we're all self-employed
We love to work at nothing all day

And we be taking care of business (every day)
Taking care of business (every way)
We be been taking care of business (it's all mine)
Taking care of business and working overtime

Mercy
Whoo
All right

Take good care of my business
When I'm away, every day
Whoo

You get up every morning from your alarm clock's warning
Take the 8:15 into the city
There's a whistle up above and people pushin', people shovin'
And the girls who try to look pretty
And if your train's on time, you can get to work by nine
And start your slaving job to get your pay
If you ever get annoyed, look at me I'm self-employed
I love to work at nothing all day

And I be taking care of business (every day)
Taking care of business (every way)
I've been taking care of business (it's all mine)
Taking care of business and working overtime, take care

Takin' care of business, whoo
Takin' care of business
Takin' care of business
Takin' care of business
Takin' care of business (every day)
Takin' care of business (every way)
Takin' care of business (it's all mine)
Takin' care of business and working overtime, whoo

Takin' care of business
Takin' care of business
We be takin' care of business
We be takin' care of business
Takin' care of business
Takin' care of business
Takin' care of business

12 Comments

General CommentThe first post by Dragonattack is absolutely correct. Here's the story about the pizza guy.
When the band was recording T C B in Seattle, they were going all night trying to get the song right but just could'nt find it. it was getting late at night and they were all hungry so they ordered a pizza. the pizza delivery guy was a budding musician and heard the band and said he could add something to the song to really make it cook. The guys were ready to tell him to bugger off, but since they were tired and hungry they said sure. this is where he added the piano bit to the song. When the producer heard it the next morning, he loved it and asked who played the piano. The guys said the pizza guy played it. the producer said that he had to be found because he couldn't go uncredited on the song. The band then spent the next few hours trying to find out who the delivery guy was. the pizza guy apparantly went on to become Bette Midler's band leader. i don't know his name. I heard this from an Interview that Randy Bachman gave to a local radio staion

General CommentI dislike this song cos for like an entire month I had to carpool the commute with my sister. She heard that it was one of those "misinterpretted lyrics-ie "Theres a Bad Moon on the Rise",sounds like "Theres' a bathroom on the right"...B.T.O.'s "Takin' Care of Business" into "Baking Carot Biscuits".
So Lynn sings this EVERY morning along with the song they play like clock work...and I'm lucky I am serving time right now.

General CommentThe lyrics of the song extoll the virtues of being a professional musician, comparing the rock and roll lifestyle to the workaday world. Takin' Care of Business was originally a tune by The Guess Who that never got released. It was originally titled "White Collar Worker", and very similar to the Beatles tune "Paperback Writer". At many Guess Who concerts, lead singer Burton Cummings would introduce the song as now being a Guess Who song.

Ironically, the song has been used as an advertising campaign for companies such as Office Depot, when the song is in fact, about being lazy.

General CommentI LOVE this song. I am just an "ordinary" working person, but I'm not offended by it. To me, it's like, wouldn't it be nice to be a lazy bum and not work anymore, just "lying in the sun" all day, get away from the daily grind? It's just a fun song.

General CommentPersonally this song has a lot of meaning to me. I've always thought the "taking care of business" part was in relation to taking a shit. I could be wrong, but I've always thought about it like that. I also usually 'TCOB' at 8:15 so this song really resonates with me.

My InterpretationIt exemplifies the cliché that being a musician isn't a real job. Musicians work hard writing the songs that we love to sing along with, so it is a real job. We pay them to entertain us, so why would you say that it's not a real job? The hours may be irregular, but so are seasonal jobs like lifeguarding in places that get cold and snow in the wintertime.